Music retailer HMV has confirmed it is calling in KPMG as administrators. The move, the second in six years, involves 2,200 staff at 125 stores.

Owners Hilco, which took the company out of its first administration in 2013, blamed a “tsunami” of retail challenges, including business rate levels and the move to digital.

HMV is another staple of the High Street, and it’s only the latest to fall victim to what is a shopping and logistical revolution. Government, of course, is completely oblivious. The government, the Tories, are naturally imbued with complacency. Tories are soaked in complacency. So nothing is being done to slay the taxes and car parking charges which are killing our high streets – not a thing.

One day a Tory MP will stroll down a high street and genuinely wonder why it’s all takeaways, charity shops and stabbers.

President Trump lying isn’t news. He does so constantly. I have come to believe that his core supporters actually revel in his lies, as they dont seem to mind them.

Yesterday’s lie was that he was giving the military a 10 percent raise, and that he was giving them their first pay raise in almost a decade. It was like a restaurant patron bragging about his big tip to a waiter.

The raise is 2.something percent, and the military has gotten raises virtually every year for the last thirty years.

Why would he lie about something so easy to fact check, and to an audience that knows he is lying? I suppose that is a question for a psychiatrist. It seems he needs to brag, even falsely, as much as he needs to breathe.

His lies came on the heels of the story about his bone spurs keeping him out of Vietnam. A lot of politicians avoided serving in that complicated war. But even the chicken hawks who avoided it through deferments had the decency not to attack those who did serve. Trump doesnt share that last thread of decency.

A conservative writer reminded me that character is destiny, and through all his evasion, lies and deceit I suspect Trump is headed for an ultimate downfall. As for his core supporters, who seem to ignore his character, I worry that they are forfeiting their own.

Can I take this moment to wish all on ATW a very merry and peaceful Christmas! It’s been an eventful year in so many ways but it’s good to take a few days to reflect and to be with family. May I send my best wishes to you and your family and thank you for sticking with ATW!

Though childhood days have passed,

Upon the common round of life

A Holy Spell is cast.”

Nollaig faoi shéan is faoi shonas duit.

Posting might be light over the next couple of days. We’re all doing the family thing, in between eating and drinking far too much. After all that is the traditional way to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus. I intend to have a jolly good walk on Boxing Day too, if I can bend down to do up my boot laces. So have yourselves a Christmas Open Thread then.

I was sneaky and smart this morning. I had to get to Sainsburys, so last night I checked to opening time of the large one in a nearby town and resolved to get there fifteen minutes before that.

Driving there, someone on the radio said that this is “Stampede Sunday”, due to the expected rush to the shops. Not for me, I smugly thought, as I rolled along. And bang on cue, fifteen minutes before opening time, I joined the back of a 500-yard traffic jam to get into the car park.

What is wrong with people? This country is obsessed with spending money. People can’t spend it quick enough. Stay home occasionally!

“But Pete” I hear, “you are part of that crowd”. I have an excuse. I’ve been at work almost every day since the start of December. Today was my one chance to grab a few essentials. So I abandoned the motor and walked it. The store was pandemonium. It was like those scenes on Black Friday, where people are fighting over the last TV. You know what supermarket shoppers are like with trolleys. To get anywhere required the anticipation of an F1 driver. As soon as someone stopped half the store came to a grinding halt. I actually stood in the furthest aisle for a while simply because it was the least crowded. I didn’t even want anything in it.

You do not defeat terrorism by rewarding terrorists, regardless of how many bleeding heart liberals argue otherwise. Want to know where that flawed approach leads to? Read UNIONISM DECAYED 1997-2007 - It's my first book and it explains what happens when you seeek to appease terrorists and call it peace. It's available right now for ATW readers so make sure you get your copy by emailing the editor! This is the book that dissents from the herd mentality that doing wrong can lead to being right. It doesn't and this book spells out WHY.

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